1. Field of the Invention
The invention related herein is a wood splitting device. Specifically, a wood splitting device for facile preparation of varying thickness of kindling wood is disclosed. The subject apparatus comprises a body element, a splitting blade or wedge (wood splitting means) horizontally mounted in the body element, means for holding and guiding a piece of wood that is slidably mounted to the body element, means for reciprocating the slidably mounted wood guiding means, and means associated with the body element for adjusting the thickness of the split portions of the wood.
2. Description of the Related Art
Various devices for wood splitting have been disclosed in the past, involving a variety of approaches to splitting logs and wood pieces. However, the related art has not addressed the need for a wood splitting device that can split kindling wood into pieces of desired thickness by incremental adjustment. The disclosed related art has been directed generally towards the splitting of whole logs, with little control over the thickness of the resulting portions of wood.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,275,778 discloses a log splitter having a horizontal beam, a hydraulic ram mounted at one end of the beam, and a wedge mounted on the other end of the beam. Logs are split by compressing the logs against the wedge portion with the ram portion.
Described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,061,168 is a log splitting device having a jack means with a platform block mounted on the jacking mechanism, and a wedge block mounted on the jack post. A log is placed between the wedge block and the platform block and the jack is actuated to split the log.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,526,362 presents a pressed log cutter having a pair of parallel plates spaced apart, and apertures in the parallel plates into which a log can be inserted. A pivotally mounted cutter attached to a lever is mounted between the parallel plates so that when pressure is applied to the lever, the cutter is brought down against the log.
Related in U.S. Pat. No. 881,538 is a wood cleaver having a vertically mounted punch driven by rod mounted to a crankshaft. The crankshaft is driven by a lever. A log is placed in the base of a block frame, and the lever depressed to turn the crankshaft, driving the connected rod and punch into the log.
A wood splitter is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 168,649 having a bed member, a movable blade, and a hand lever with a toothed arc at one end that drives the movable blade along the bed and into a log.
German Patent No. 383,707 presents a wood splitter having a flat base element with a hollow cylinder vertically mounted on top of the flat base. Radially spaced screw clamps in the hollow cylinder hold the log portion to be split. A pivotally mounted lever with a blade positioned above the hollow cylinder is operated to bring the blade down against the log.
Disclosed in German Patent No. 33,360 is a wood splitting device having a base member with a block to rest logs against. A horizontally mounted rod with a wedge at one end is guided through two apertures in the base member towards the block. A vertical lever is pivotally attached to the horizontally mounted rod so that moving the lever reciprocates the cylinder, driving the wedge end of the cylinder into a the log against the block.
Swiss Patent No. 193,574 relates an apparatus for splitting wood having a pivotally mounted handle attached to a vertical base member. Near the pivoting end of the handle is a wedge mounted near the pivot point so that the wedge travels in an arc as the handle is moved. A wood supporting block extends out from the base member at an acute angle, so that by moving the handle, the wedge travels in an arc into the piece of wood supported by the block.